


You'll Get Away Eventually

by Hawkefeathers



Series: Roads Untravelled [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:09:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkefeathers/pseuds/Hawkefeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d always had a habit of charging off and making up plans on the fly. Gabe had told him time and time again that it was going to get him killed one day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll Get Away Eventually

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by [this post](http://otpdisaster.tumblr.com/post/110731939970) on Tumblr. It ended up being quite a bit longer than expected.
> 
> Listen to the song Future by Paramore for full effect.

His phone was ringing.

 Gabriel groaned as the sound pulled him from his much-needed sleep. As he fumbled for the cellphone on his nightstand he took a quick look at his alarm clock. He’d barely been in bed for two hours. When he saw the name on the caller ID his mood only soured further.

  _Jack Morrison._

 He growled and dropped his phone carelessly back onto the nightstand. Whatever the fuck it was, Jack could wait until daylight like a decent human being. It seemed to take an eternity for the call to go to voicemail and when it did he relaxed, fully intending to go back to sleep.

 And then it rang again. Gabe let it go to voicemail again, set on ignoring it. But when it started up a third time he let out a resigned sigh and grabbed the phone. When it connected, he let his aggravation show in his voice.

 “ _¡Dios mio!_ What the hell do you want, Jack?”

  _ **"**_ ** _Ah. Sorry, Gabe. Just wanted to talk to you is all.”_ **

 “At three in the goddamn morning?” Gabe was sitting up now, pinching the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to staved off the headache that was building from too little sleep.

  _"_ ** _Is that what time it is there?”_** Jack chuckled softly. **_“Shit, I’m sorry. I forgot, timezones and all that.”_**

 Right. Jack was on assignment with a small team of Overwatch operatives. Something about cutting off a Talon supply chain. It didn’t have anything to do with Blackwatch so Gabe hadn’t paid too much attention. He just knew Jack was going to be gone for a while without Ana or himself to watch his back and he didn’t like it. He’d left two weeks ago. If Jack was calling him like this, he was either bored during downtime or the mission was over.

 Well, it wasn’t like Gabe was going to be able to get back to sleep any time soon so he might as well talk. “Is it over already? You coming home?”

 There was the sound of something shifting, like something scraping against stone. **_“Yeah. It’s over. Or, close enough. Mostly just cleanup left.”_ **

 That was surprising. “I thought you said it would be almost a month before you guys were ready to move in. Did something change?”

 Jack didn’t answer right away and Gabe would have thought that the call had disconnected if not for the fact that he could hear him breathing. Something was nagging at him, like his mind was trying to tell him something important. Gabe pushed it aside when Jack finally spoke.

  ** _“An opportunity came up to move our plans ahead so we took it. We weren’t quite ready for it but I think we managed okay.”_ **

 Which meant that Jack had probably rushed in head first as usual. He’d always had a habit of charging off and making up plans on the fly. Gabe had told him time and time again that it was going to get him killed one day. The way Jack would laugh it off always made Gabe want to punch him.

 “So when do you guys head back?”

 There was that soft scraping sound again. **_“The team will head back in the morning. ETA probably around 0800 your time.”_ ** Jack laughed quietly and it sounded like he was out of breath. **_“Remind me not to take on missions like this without you around. Probably would have gone a whole lot smoother. They took hostages, Gabe. Kids. Couldn’t get them all out.”_ **

 Maybe that explained why Jack’s voice was unusually soft. He always took it hard when civilians got dragged into the fray. Gabe couldn’t even remember how many times he’d had to comfort Jack in their quarters. Jack would never show such emotion openly when there were other Overwatch members around, but in the privacy of their own room he would break down. Yet another reason that Gabe didn’t go into detail about what he did for Blackwatch. He didn’t want that on Jack’s conscience too.

 “I’m sorry, _cariño_. Try to focus on the ones you saved, yeah? They’re still alive because of you.” It was a familiar script, one that played out every time a situation like this occurred. Next, Jack would point out that none of those people would have been involved if not for his men showing up, and they’d talk in circles until Jack was so exhausted and heartsick that he would fall asleep.

 But tonight was different.

  ** _“Yeah. I did that much, at least. I can live with that.”_ **

 What the hell was going on?

 “Jack-”

  ** _“Hey, Gabe? I’ve been meaning to ask you something. And please be honest with me.”_ **

 That nagging feeling from earlier was back full-force. It was telling him that something was very, _very_ wrong. They’d had their share of important conversations over the phone in the past, but anything serious was usually reserved for when they were face-to-face.

 “Can’t it wait until you get back tomorrow?”

  ** _“No. And I wouldn’t ask you like this if it wasn't...important to me. Please, Gabe.”_ **

 The pleading tone in Jack’s voice made his skin crawl. Wrong, everything about this was wrong. “Okay, okay. Go ahead.”

 He heard Jack take a deep breath, as if he had to steel his nerves. **_“If you were promoted to Strike-Commander instead of me, do you think things would have turned out different?”_ **

 Cold dread made Gabe sit bolt upright. This was a topic they had carefully skirted around for years. Jack knew of Gabe’s resentment over being passed over for the position. Of course he did. And Jack had been there to cry bullshit alongside him. But while they both felt that the position should have gone to Gabe, neither of them had ever talked about whether or not Gabe would be _better_ at it.

 “Jack, what the hell is going on? Where the hell are you right now?”

  ** _“Gabe, you know where I am-”_ **

 “Where are you exactly _, pendejo!”_

 He heard Jack sigh. **_“I...don’t know. I got separated from the others. I think this was a school or something. Not sure.”_** Jack said it with a strange sort of detachment that left Gabe feeling like his heart was being squeezed by a vise.

 “Why haven’t you tried to find the rest of your team?” He feared that he already knew the answer, but he refused to believe it until Jack confirmed it himself. Gabe found himself childishly hoping that nothing was wrong as long as nobody said it out loud. He heard that sound again, that scraping of something over stone. This time he could also hear how Jack’s breath hitched. The pained whimper that followed made him want to scream.

  ** _“I….I can’t. I can’t move. I can’t- They got me bad, Gabe. Really bad.”_ **

 This can’t be happening. Not like this! “Why did you call me?! Why didn’t you call for your team?! _They can help you!”_

 It was obvious. So frightfully obvious. But he refused to believe the possibility. Jack was coming back. Jack was going to be fine. He’d get back here and recover and Gabe would chew him out for being stupid.

 Jack’s laugh was faint and tapered off into a cough. **_“There’s nothing they can do. I’m not getting out of this one.”_ **

 Gabe didn’t want to acknowledge that Jack’s voice was getting weaker. His eyes burned and he didn’t even try to fight the tears that were coming. It didn’t matter. Not right now. “I told you. I _fucking_ told you! You don’t _think_ -”

  ** _“Gabe…”_ **

 “-you just charge on ahead and think that it’s going to be alright and I _told_ you this was going to happen-”

  ** _“Gabe, please-”_ **

 “And now you are going to die alone and _there’s not a damn thing I can do about it!”_

  ** _“I know. I’m sorry. I-”_** Jack gasped in pain and Gabe wanted so badly to be there. It wasn’t fair. Jack was a hero and had devoted his life to stopping those that would bring harm to others, and now he was dying alone in the dirt without anyone to comfort him. Just a lousy cell phone connection and a lover that was too far away to be of any use.

  ** _“I- I just needed to hear your voice one last time before I… Before it was too late. I needed to tell you, needed you to know… I love you, Gabe.”_ **

 Gabe choked out bitter sob. ‘I love you’. Neither of them had said those words, too afraid that what they had would fall apart if they said it out loud. And now it was far too late for it to make any difference.

 “I already knew that, you idiot. I love you, too.”

 There was no response.

  
  



End file.
